End of Year and a Make 9 Selection
Friday Pattern Co - Cambria Duster
It felt like it was only a few weeks ago that I was setting my 2019 sewing resolutions and only a few days since I was mid way through the year. Why does time always fly by so quickly?
At the beginning of last year I made the intention of sewing frosting, garments that fell outside of my comfort zone, whether that was in the use of colours or even using a pattern that I hadn’t used before. I think the latter was easier to do because I wasn’t a prolific sewer and had so much choice of what I could make.
I also put myself under a fabric ban, which meant that I personally couldn’t buy any fabric for myself. This was to help stop my habit of buying fabric that realistically I wasn’t ever going to use and to take stock of what I already had. I was quickly running out of space and it became apparent that maybe I had become a little bit of a compulsive buyer when it came to fabric. Some people might say that it limited what I could make because I potentially wouldn’t have the correct fabric that a pattern called for, but others would say that was all part of the fun of sewing.
Personally, the hardest resolution was to not buy fabric and I did really well for most of the year. I had so many patterns in my collection to choose from that I also ended up not buying that many patterns, with an exception to a few around the black friday sale. During the year I had 2 friends that decided to troll me (the friendly kind of trolling), with both of them giving me two different types of fabric each 3 meters in length. That’s a total of 12 meters that I really didn’t have the space for or a project in mind. This was the first time that I had received fabric from anyone and I was really stumped when they arrived. They are still unused but have made it into my 2020 make 9 list. Around the middle of the year I broke my ban and bought a few 1m cuts to make children’s clothes, another first for me and even though everyone said that it didn’t count towards my sewing ban, I felt like it did. Close to the end of the year I visited New Craft House for one of their open days and ended up with 2m of taffeta and 2m of a wool/cotton blend. Black Friday sales were particularly difficult and I did spend most of my time not looking at my emails and social channels to avoid temptation. To help any impulsive buying, I promised myself that I would only buy fabric that had a really high percentage of wool (50+%) and nothing else. To my surprise I did find some with the composition of 80% lambswool and 20% poly, so I bought my last fabric of the year and this has also made it onto my make 9 list.
Despite breaking my ban I chose those fabrics with intention rather than ‘oh they just look nice’. Now with my ban lifted I don’t have the urge to buy as much and would prefer to only purchase something for a really special make. I’m considering this a win, for my bank account, my mindset and wardrobe.
I was really surprised to have successfully made my second resolution: a whole year of makes in all of the chaos that life has thrown at me. A big part of the drive this year was when I partnered with my friend Perrine to create Sew Naive, where we took turns to write about our projects, sharing our difficulties and triumphs. Even though Sew Naive is still on hiatus, and I can’t predict whether we will restart our publication again, I’ve found the whole process very therapeutic and balancing for me. Yes there were also times that writing immensely slowed my sewing down and I was reluctant to start another project if I hadn’t finished off my writing, but I’ve come to love the process.
So without further ado, here are my completed makes in order of completion:
Cambria Duster - Friday Pattern Company
Esther Trousers - Victory Patterns
Honeydew Hoodie & Clover Trousers - Poppy & Jazz
1279 Misses’ Shirt - Simplicity
There were also a few more that haven’t made it onto the blog yet, but I was proud to finish them before the bell rang at midnight:
A sneak peak of the Lara Shirt
Lara Shirt - Ralph Pink
1254 Coat - Simplicity Leanne Marshall
I’ve learnt so much this year, with each pattern having their own learning curve and ability to personalise them even further.
Now that I know I can make more than 9 garments in a year I feel like I could take on a Make 9.
What is a Make 9, I hear you say?
The Make 9 is hands-down the most popular challenge to undertake, an annual year-long ‘making’ challenge created by Rochelle of Lucky Lucille in 2015, with the simple rules of picking nine projects to “make” in 2019–they can be sewing, knitting, or other craft projects, and your list of nine can be as specific or as unstructured as you like. Some will pick patterns that they want to make, some will only pick fabrics, or a specific sewing technique or a garment category, giving them more freedom to achieve their makes. I really love that it is a rough guide so it really doesn’t matter if you change direction midway or don’t finish it. Nothing is lost. For my first year, I will be picking fabrics that I would like to use as I still have plenty of fabrics to choose from!
So in no particular order here are my 9 fabric picks:
Midnight Wool - Flamingo Fabrics
Fruit Basket Cotton - Fabric Galore
Crepe Plain Rust - Cotton Reel
Wool Coating Checks - Cotton Reel
Black Spot Jacquard - New Craft House
Grass Green Fleece backed Sweatshirt - Fabric Galore
Blush Papyrus Cotton Home Furnishing - Fabric Galore
Black Stretch Jersey Crepe - Unknown
Brown Stripe Cotton Home Furnishing - Fabric Galore
I’m not sure what this year will bring me and what I will make, but if it’s like last year then I think I’ll be having a ball of a time!
Also big thanks to my friend Lynz who has been amazing to stand in my place for all my garment photos. Allowing me to dress and style her to my satisfaction, has allowed me to see how versatile different garments have been. If she ever starts sewing clothes, I will happily return the favour :D
Is anyone else also doing a Make 9? If so, what will you do for your Make 9?
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